In the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States of America, petitioner, vs. Motion Picture Patents Company, et al., defendants (1914)

Record Details:

Title:
In the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States of America, petitioner, vs. Motion Picture Patents Company, et al., defendants
Date:
1914
Publisher:
New York, Appeal Printing Co.
Volume:
In the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States of America, petitioner, vs. Motion Picture Patents Company, et al., defendants : record volume 5
Leaf #:
00068
Language:
English
Collection:
Early Cinema and Government & Law
Format:
Periodicals
Contributor:
The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
These seven volumes contain the testimonies and supporting documents from the U.S. District Court's antitrust lawsuit against the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC). Formed in 1908, the MPPC (sometimes referred to asœ"the Edison Trust" or just "the Trust") sought to control the American film industry through pooling patents and demanding that producers and exhibitors acquire licenses to those patents. Independent producers and exhibitors, who refused to license the patents, argued that the MPPC was an unlawful monopoly. In 1912 and 1913, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania heard testimonies from both MPPC members, such as Siegmund Lubin, and "Independents" who later became Hollywood moguls, such as William Fox. Ultimately, in 1915, the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which found the MPPC in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act and spelled the end for the already weakening MPPC. -- Eric Hoyt, 2012
Date Added:
September 21, 2023
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2518 Petitioner's Exhibit No. 20>3. as my observation extends, it is demonstrated that for every small store show that closes, a large moving picture theater is opened. "I need only mention the use of Keith's theaters, in New York city, exclusively for moving picture shows, replacing vaudeville; also, the Garrick at St. Louis, the Lyric at Cleveland, the Orpheum at Chicago, and the Hopkins at Louisville,— all of them pretentious houses, many involving the payment of enormous rentals. YYill Improve Exhibitions. "The introduction of moving pictures into theaters of this character must undoubtedly tend to improve the character of the exhibitions, as well as enlist the patronage of a class of people who have heretofore known nothing of that branch of entertainment, having been inclined to consider this class of amusement beneath them. "In Paris, France, the Hippodrome is to be devoted exclusively to moving pictures. This seats some 7,000 people, and will have an orchestra of 60 pieces. The films for this resort will be supplied in the main by the European manufacturers whose product will be marketed in this country under the Biograph license, and the same subjects will be available for the most humble nickelodion in the smallest country town. "It appears to be inevitable, much as I regret it, that there will be two factions in the motion picture field for some time to come; and that circumstances force me and the Kleine Optical company, with which I have been identified since its inception, into a position of business opposition to many personal friends engaged in this business, for whom I have the highest regard. I can only say in conclusion that if competition becomes bitter, the conflict will be conducted, as far as we are concerned, along clean and wholesome lines, without personalities, and while our campaign may be aggressive1 it is unavoidable, and has been forced upon us by conditions. " By Mr. Grosvenor: Q. I show you an article in the Show World of March 21st, 190S, at page 1, entitled, "Film Magnates in Chicago